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IKEA 2012 Catalogue

Every year upon receiving the IKEA catalogue, I would flip through the pages repeatedly, filling myself with the details of rooms I like. Some of these rooms are the exact opposite of 'less is more', which is precisely what attract me, being a person inclined to fill up spaces until they look like my space.

Unlike elegant, almost empty rooms (which I do like but its just not me), the rooms of IKEA show vibrance, beaming with signs of life and are certainly more realistic and achievable.

Great post on IKEA 2012 Preview from Apartment Therapy.

Am looking forward to receiving this from my mailbox. In the mean time, check out the online version here.

An end to commence a new beginning

this afternoon's teabreak

Today marks the coming to an end of carefree, aimless days. For more than half a year, I wasn't working. Tomorrow will be a very different day, back to a more routine life. In a way, I'm glad, after long period of inactivity.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a 'new year resolutions' post. I guess now is a good time to take stock of the last half year. No I did not exercise more often, in fact I went to gym less as compared to when I was working. But I ate more! I guess I did spend more time with my family, fussing over my mum as a different form of occupation and we got the house done up, which was quite an achievement. As for the new job, yes, tomorrow is the day.

Coffee or Tea

When it comes to eating and drinking (coffee/tea), I guess this must be my greatest strength. Judging from my posts on Coffee or Tea, I think it has really been a caffeine overdose. But I still have not made it to 40 hands, which happens to be the cafe nearest to my home.

I managed to try out a few vegetarian eateries too.

Vegan Burg
Hozen

Angel's Bistro

Read, write and shoot

I did not read as much as I hope, but given a person as slow at reading as me, it is already quite a feat to have read The Great Railway Bazaar, The Year of the Hare and a few issues of INK. Oh, on the spiritual side, I managed to attend a few Buddhist classes too.


Finally, I made it to Nepal, a place which evaded me twice, first around 5-6? years ago when a coup happened a few days before my planned departure, then last year, due to family matters. It was not exactly a relaxing holiday but a very different travel experience. Managed to write a few articles on that and still waiting for some to be published.

The above does sound to be too little for half a year without work. So that will mean I have to work harder in the next half year...

A Taipei cafe

Several years ago, I went down Wenzhou Street at Taipei to have a sip of coffee at Norweigian Wood Cafe. It was an unforgetable afternoon, sitting at a corner of the cafe flipping through a local magazine, surrounded by locals drinking coffee. Some were engrossed with a book in their hand, while others were chatting with friends in between sips. There were also those who were simply drinking coffee and smoking at the time. It was a very different culture.

Norweigian Wood has closed down some years ago. The only reason that I suddenly thought of the cafe experience at Taipei was because I came across this blog, set up by the owner of Nido. Running through the lovely pics really make a cafe lover drool. It features not only cafes in Taiwan but also Hong Kong and Japan.

image by Nido

image by Nido

Am feeling the urge to fly down to Taipei, even if it is just to stay all day long in cafes.

A walk down the tracks

Yesterday, I finally made my way to Bukit Timah for a walk down the railway tracks.

After a rainy Friday, Saturday's weather turns out great, cool but with a bit of blue sky in the evening.

Even from afar, I could see the massive turnout. It looks like a big Singapore walk, where the young and old did not want to miss out on this special 'event'. Its probably once in a life time that we get to walk carefreely at railway tracks.

A short walk brings us to Bukit Timah Station, which has been fenced up.

I wonder what the white and blue sign means.

Lots of greeneries as we walk further up.

It is much nicer, a lot more peaceful, as the crowd grew thinner.

Perhaps we walked at a far too leisurely pace, or perhaps it is really the stoney path slowing us down, by the time we finished the walk, it was 8+. Adding a little adventure to end the walk, we climbed over a fence (it was really too dark to walk further down by then) to exit out to Bouna Vista.

Busy with another blog

Recently, I've been busy setting up another blog and an online shop. It took me some time to get things together and finally, I've made some progress. Check out all these at ishopwallphotos.blogspot.com


It is of course, a new beginning. Wish me luck.